A Lesson On Charity

Here’s a Christmas message that might help change your views on the virtue of charity - a tale to understand the importance of absence of niggardliness in one’s life! - The King’s Lesson on Charity.

Once, a person was advised by a holy man to give a vegetable a day to the needy as a gift and was told that he would attain great merit by doing so.

The poor man strictly followed the advice. After death, he was reborn to a royal family and grew up to become a king. [* | In-line.WMF *]He was able to recall what he had done in his past birth. So, he continued to give a vegetable a day.

Surprisingly, after death, he was reborn as a beggar.

The man was unable to comprehend the reason and so sought the advice of the holy man who had earlier blessed him.

From the sage, he learned that prior to becoming a king he had been very poor and so a gift of a vegetable a day was sufficient to give him a lot of virtue. On the other hand, as a king he was endowed with affluence. So, thereafter, the gift of just a vegetable a day was quite insufficient to earn him merit of any consequence. 

The person realized that the extent of charity needed to earn a certain degree of merit depends upon one’s financial status.

 That, my dear friend, is one lesson we cannot afford to miss. So, the next time we think of giving, reflect on this story. May you be endowed with much happiness this Christmas!